ICANN vs. Nominet, what’s the dif­fer­ence?

When it comes to the man­age­ment and ad­min­is­tra­tion of the internet, there are many different parties involved, each of which are re­spons­ible for carrying out various tasks. Two or­gan­isa­tions that are es­pe­cially relevant for internet users in the UK are ICANN and Nominet. We’ll explain what they do and what dif­fer­ences there are between the two.

What is ICANN and what do they do?

ICANN (Internet Cor­por­a­tion for Assigned Names and Numbers) is a Los Angeles-based non-profit or­gan­isa­tion that is re­spons­ible for the al­loc­a­tion and main­ten­ance of internet addresses. The or­gan­isa­tion was initially developed under the name IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. While IANA still exists, it is now one of many de­part­ments that make up ICANN.

In order to un­der­stand the dif­fer­ence between Nominet and ICANN, it’s important to first look at what ICANN does. ICANN’s main function is managing top-level domains (TLDs) and the domain name system. The or­gan­isa­tion’s scope of influence is vast as it is re­spons­ible for co­ordin­at­ing all existing web addresses. To this end, the or­gan­isa­tion ensures that only one version of each domain exists and that domains are clearly iden­ti­fi­able and can be accessed via a web browser. The or­gan­isa­tion, however, does not actively authorise web addresses.

Domain name man­age­ment

Of­fi­cially, ICANN is re­spons­ible for managing all TLDS; but their scope of influence varies depending on the TLD. As a result, ICANN has more control over some TLDs than others. ICANN primarily co­ordin­ates the al­loc­a­tion of un­sponsored generic top-level domains (gTLDs), which include well-known domain ex­ten­sions such as .com, .net and .org. It is also re­spons­ible for managing new generic TLDs like .web or .shop. Ul­ti­mately, ICANN is tasked with the ac­cred­it­a­tion of these domain ex­ten­sions as well as es­tab­lish­ing the al­loc­a­tion criteria.

DNS operation

The DNS is a corner­stone of the internet. It trans­lates web addresses, like www.ionos.co.uk, into IP address that computers can un­der­stand. The domain name system is struc­tured in a hier­arch­ic­al manner and comprises numerous in­ter­con­nec­ted DNS servers. At the top are the DNS root servers, which serve as the starting point for searches through the DNS hierarchy.

Across the globe, there are hundreds of root servers, which can only be accessed via 13 IP addresses. While ICANN manages all of these addresses, they are operated by different or­gan­isa­tions (uni­ver­sit­ies, companies and gov­ern­ment entities). These or­gan­isa­tions typically take on all re­spons­ib­il­it­ies related to operating the servers, which include covering the costs of the servers, main­tain­ing the hardware and software, and selecting server locations.

Domain name re­gis­tra­tion through ICANN partners

Au­thor­ised ICANN partners, which are commonly referred to as domain name re­gis­tries (often simply as re­gis­tries) or NICs (network in­form­a­tion centres), handle domain re­gis­tra­tions. Each top-level domain (TLD) is managed by a single registry. For example, the Public Interest Registry oversees the top-level domain .org. It’s important to note that a single registry can manage multiple TLDs. Nominet, for instance, is re­spons­ible for TLDS like .com, .net and .tv.

Registry operators that have been au­thor­ised by ICANN manage both the Whois server and some of the nameserv­ers for the TLDs that they are re­spons­ible for. While a Whois lookup service provides in­form­a­tion about domain avail­ab­il­ity and domain owners, nameserv­ers maintain records for all domain names as­so­ci­ated with a TLD, including their cor­res­pond­ing IP addresses. By main­tain­ing these records, nameserv­ers ensure that domains can be accessed.

What is Nominet?

Nominet is a public-benefit company that manages multiple top-level domains, including .uk, .co.uk, .org.uk and .wales. In addition to domain re­gis­tra­tion and man­age­ment services, they also offer cyber security services and operate critical internet in­fra­struc­ture for the UK. The company manages over 11 million .uk domains and delivers pro­tect­ive DNS (PDNS) to the UK’s Health and Social Care Network (HSCN) as well as over 900 or­gan­isa­tions. Headquartered in Oxford, England, Nominet works together with over 2,500 re­gis­trars across the world. To secure an internet address with any of its TLDs, customers can apply to either a registrar or directly to an official website of their chosen domain.

What is the re­gis­tra­tion process for domains from Nominet?

When re­gis­ter­ing a web address that contains a TLD offered by Nominet, the re­gis­tra­tion process may vary depending on which domain registrar you decide to use. Generally though, the steps are as follows:

1. After checking the avail­ab­il­ity of a domain with a domain checker, enter the domain you want in the form provided by the registrar. You’ll also need to provide some in­form­a­tion about yourself, which is passed on to Nominet as part of the domain re­gis­tra­tion.
2. The domain name you have selected is then entered into Nominet’s database. The personal in­form­a­tion you provided is used to identify you as the domain owner. The domain name is then assigned a cor­res­pond­ing IP address.
3. After the re­gis­tra­tion request has gone through, in­form­a­tion about your web address is passed on to ICANN. ICANN manages the domain name system (DNS), which, when domains are entered into a browser, locates hosts and accesses the cor­res­pond­ing website. Once ICANN enters the domain you have chosen into the DNS, it will be activated. Upon ac­tiv­a­tion, the domain can be used anywhere in the world.

The il­lus­tra­tion below should help to give you a better idea of how this works:

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ICANN vs. Nominet

ICANN is re­spons­ible for almost everything related to domain operation. Its primary task is to ensure that every domain that exists resolves to a valid IP address. This is only possible if the DNS is func­tion­ing properly, and each domain name only occurs once worldwide. In order to ensure that these two things happen, ICANN has delegated the necessary steps for these tasks to numerous other or­gan­isa­tions. One of their partners is Nominet, which manages multiple domains including .uk, .co.uk and .org.uk.

ICANN and Nominet have very different roles when it comes to operating and managing domains. ICANN primarily es­tab­lishes rules, delegates tasks and assumes ultimate re­spons­ib­il­ity for the suc­cess­ful func­tion­ing of domains worldwide. On the other hand, Nominet offers domain registry, internet in­fra­struc­ture and cyber security services. The table below provides a quick com­par­is­on of Nominet and ICANN.